CA Employment Report reveals slow job growth, shrinking labor force

The California Center for Jobs & the Economy has just released their “California Employment Report” for April 2015. Among the most notable highlights from this report:

CA’s unemployment rate declines to 6.3 percent, still 17 percent higher than the national rate:

“For both California and the U.S., improvement in the unemployment rate continues to stem primarily from the shift in the status of the unemployed, as they have moved to the employed category or left the workforce. There has been little change in the overall labor force, and as discussed below, California’s labor force participation rate remains at 1976 levels.

“California’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 17 percent higher than the national rate. California’s ranking again improved slightly to be the 11th highest unemployment rate among the states.”

“California’s persistently low participation rate is an indication the state still is not producing sufficient jobs at a wage rate sufficient to draw disengaged workers back into the labor force. This decline in the relative number of workers has an immediate effect on total household income, with its attendant effects on the ability of those households to afford California’s high housing, energy, and other costs of living.”

The real unemployment is closer to 15%. If not for the large number of Boomers getting pension checks this nation and state would have a much larger number of homeless roaming the streets than it does now!! 🙂